Among the things WWE fans hope for frequently are Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to be a more permanent performer in the company and CM Punk, one of the most “over” superstars in recent memory, to return to the squared circle after suddenly retiring in 2014 and moving on to a mixed martial arts career in UFC.

Neither happened on Monday night, but what did go down in the middle of a WWE ring has fans buzzing anyway.

With Raw being filmed live at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, The Rock saw it as a perfect opportunity to film the closing scene of a movie he is currently producing, “Fighting with My Family.” The movie is a loose biopic on the life of WWE wrestler Paige, who made her debut on the main roster in 2014 and is the first woman to hold two championships simultaneously in WWE history.

In addition to making a quick appearance in the ring before Raw began, The Rock returned to pump up the crowd and get them ready for the filming of the scene, in which Paige defeats AJ Lee to win what was then the Divas Championship.

While entertaining the crowd, The Rock decided to pull out his actual cell phone and call CM Punk. Though he was unable to get Punk on the line, he left a voicemail, which included the “15,000 strong” at the Staples Center chanting the name of the man they badly want to see wrestle again. The Rock later tried to FaceTime Punk to no avail,

It should also be noted that AJ is CM Punk’s real-life wife, so fans got a double dose of nostalgia -- she left WWE shortly after him -- when they heard her entrance music as part of the final scene of the movie.

Neither Paige nor AJ are playing themselves in the film with actress Florence Pugh learning to wrestle for her role as Paige and former wrestler Thea Trinidad playing AJ. “Fighting with My Family” also stars Johnson, Vince Vaughn and Lena Headey.

Since The Rock left WWE as a full-time wrestler in 2003, he has returned sparingly, mostly for one-off fights and appearances at WrestleManias with the occasional surprise in between. Most memorably, he held the WWE championship for 70 days in 2013, ending with a defeat at the hands of John Cena as a conclusion to that rivalry.

CM Punk left WWE citing a variety of health reasons for his departure, though some believe there were other factors at play. including how he was being used on screen. Regardless, no fence seems to have been mended between the two parties with Punk rejecting an apology from chairman Vince McMahon on one occasion and stating on others that he is done with professional wrestling. Injuries and delays pushed Punk’s UFC debut back a full year, and he’s since lost his lone fight via submission to Mickey Gall at UFC 203 in September 2016. 

WWE fans chant “CM Punk” often to this day, usually at members of the McMahon family and particularly when the company has shows in Chicago but also in other major cities and at big-time events. The culmination of the fans’ desire to see him in the ring with The Rock actually facilitating the moment was certainly a unique occurrence on Monday.